Book Review and Giveaway: I Can't Tell You Why

By Sara Steven

An engrossing and emotionally true novel about the love triangle from hell – an agent, Dani, her star client and a paparazzi photographer programmed to expose.

Sometimes even the most grounded people make bad decisions – decisions that even they cannot explain. And sometimes bad decisions take on a life of their own . . .

Having an affair is inconceivable to Dani and yet she’s having one with Alex. He’s married, he’s an actor and she’s his agent. Then Dani meets Sean, a paparazzi photographer with a formidable reputation. It’s a profession that makes him unpredictable at best. A dangerous trait when his motivation to expose becomes personal.

Can Dani dig her way out of a bad situation that she thought that she was too smart to get into? (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads.)

There is a camera lens present within each primary character, an interesting perspective for I Can’t Tell You Why. A scene between individuals showcases what each person is really thinking, and while this vantage point might sound a bit confusing, it wasn’t, and it added depth to not only the primary characters, but to the scene.

The depth, we discover, isn’t always pretty. Given what the reader finds out about Dani’s past, it’s hard to fathom she’d have an affair with Alex. Yet, we learn through her experiences that we’re often our own worst enemies when it comes to the right and wrongs in this world. I appreciated the vulnerability and honesty reflected in Dani’s decisions, up for judgement and not considered ideal. I could really feel the agony in wanting to break free, yet not being able to. It also helped that given all outside appearances, she has it together. She’s successful, she appears to be a born leader, but in her dealings with Alex, she is anything but. A huge contrast that only added to the secrets and lies.

Her relationship with Sean is also an interesting conundrum, and I never knew for sure if this was someone she genuinely wanted to pursue, or if he was a much-needed distraction from the chaos. It really could have gone either way, a flip-flop of emotions that delved into realistic territory for many of us who have conflicted feelings about someone we are in a relationship with, but aren’t entirely sure what that means. She finds herself in, as described in the synopsis, a “love triangle from hell”, but I felt it was more than that. At some point, she has to make a solid decision that could potentially change the course of her future. But what’s the right decision?

Told with a simplistic perspective that doesn’t oversimplify, I Can’t Tell You Why made sense, in showing the inner workings of someone who is struggling with poor choices that, at the time and in the moment, feel right. While there were sections that felt a little slow at times, there were plenty of scenes that were engaging and picked up quickly, leaving me feeling just as breathless as Dani did, while she’s trying to get through her sticky situation.

Thanks to Rachel's Random Resources for the book in exchange for an honest review.

Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK

Elaine Robertson North spent 25 years working in marketing and communications in the media and entertainment industries. This included seven years marketing national newspapers and a variety of senior executive roles in TV, radio and film. I Can’t Tell You Why is her first novel.

Elaine lives in North London with her husband and their two sons. When she’s not writing, she can be found looking harassed on the school run, cheering on the side lines of her sons’ football matches or singing her heart out at her local branch of Popchoir.

Visit Elaine online:
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Giveaway ends August 2nd.